


See You Again

by orphan_account



Category: Cinderella 2015
Genre: F/M, Sad, War, not what happens in my head, request fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:19:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4445102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another kingdom has invaded and in the best interest of the royal family, the children, Kit and Ella seperate, unsure of what the future holds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	See You Again

Please note that this goes outside my little universe of kitella, but this was certainly an interesting fic to write. 

Autumn, sixteen years later. 

"Lily, Lily help me." Ella requested, or begged, of her youngest daughter, digging at the ground with urgent hands as the box slid from the folds of her cloak and down into the damp earth. Flora held the reins of the Queens horse as Lily dismounted and scrambled to her mothers aid, befuddled and confused. She didn't understand the significance of the clearing they had strayed into, didn't know what made her mother slip from their shared horse and stumble to the centre of the glade. Flora didn't either. They didn't know it was the memory of two horses circling one another, an apprentice and an honest country girl entering in a discussion that would change both their lives forever, that caused her to crumble to the ground. They didn't know what was inside the box. 

Ella knew it was a foolish idea, and dangerous too, to bring her glass slippers in the simple, crate like box of memories that had kept her going through the seemingly endless days of suffering she had faced. However, she could not bare the thought of anyone seeing such personal affects, and so had tucked it under her cloak as Flora had lifted Lily to her. 

Her tears sprinkled the small mound of soil that covered her treasure trove, when they were done, but Ella did not think of that. She thought of her Kit, expressing a wish to meet with her once more and her sincere reply, the exchange that started it all, that confirmed their mutual attraction to each other.  
_

The palace was almost completely bare, everything valuable carted off to safe places and hidden so as to avoid danger. The evacuation had begun a month prior, half the court disappearing within the day the army had retreated to behind the outer city walls. The men had fallen back, His Majesty with them as the nobles fled the area, hoping against hope to find their estates in tact. They didn't, but that was beside the point. The place was a shell of what it once was, full of love and laughter. It had been where some of the happiest moments of Ella's life had played out within the shallow husk of a building, and to have it just deteriorate into nothing was heart wrenching. 

She tried to imagine what it had been like, begged herself to remember the bright candlelight and shimmering dressage that had been the ballroom that night so many years ago. Seventeen years, seventeen years tomorrow - and she would never see the halls of her home again. She tried to have courage, strained all her heart to have faith in the outcome of the war their kingdom had been seized in, and failed. The lands to the east had begun to war with each other, and the southern kingdom had enforced passage across their country after Kit had refused them aid, unwilling to he caught up in a war that was pointless, and had nothing to do with them.

The window glass had been taken out, on the orders of one opportunist courtier or other, and the wind had blown the crinkled up autumn leaves into the grey lighted room. Ella almost wept at the sight on the floor, the very floor she and Kit had danced on, crunching under foot as she made her way into the room for the very last time. Her children stood there, all assembled in traveling attire, looking more forlorn and frightened than she had ever seen them before. Kit was with them, grave and sombre with the Grand Duke and the Captain of the Guard at his side, their families despondent in the centre of the room. 

Most of the servants had been dismissed already, the few remaining about the queens person being from her old family home, and Flora was the only maid servant to be by Ella's side when the family separated. At least she would have her friend, in the end, if there was to be an end. If they were found, they would be seen as a lower class noble woman and her companion, not a queen and a friend from her past life. That, and her child. Lily could come with her, as the youngest of the children and the least alike, physically, to her father. 

Kit knew what she was thinking without ever needing to talk to her, and extended her hand for what very well might be the last time, pulling her into his embrace without a care for the company they were in. Ella buried her face in his shoulder, breathing in his scent, memorising the feel of his body pressed against hers and the pattern of his breathing. I love you, she could tell he meant by the way he refused to let go, for well on a minute. When Ella pulled away, tears were in her eyes and he was struggling to retain his composure. His laugh lines were more pronounced, his blue eyes full of pain and regret, and Ella was sure she looked just as worried, and afraid. Yes, they were all afraid. Afraid for themselves, afraid for their loved ones... 

Kit was to remain, with the Captain of the Guard and few select members of the first and second divisions, to revive the troops and stir some feeling of patriotism. Ella knew, however, what that really meant. They intended to have their king die with dignity, in regimentals and resilient to the end, they didn't care that he was her husband, her beloved apprentice monarch, and that he did not deserve anything they were asking him to do. Lance had sworn to her he would not let any harm him, his position was Captain of the Guard after all, but he could not protect him forever, just as Ella could not. Kit did not even request he do so, insisted instead that he had a family as much as he did, but the man knew felt it his duty, his obligation that he followed with all his heart, and would hear no word of dismissal. However Phillip, despite his best efforts, had been reasoned with. Their Majesties would not entrust their Christopher with any other. 

Her children looked beaten and small, devoid of the mirth that had once filled their lives. Ella had a sickening feeling that perhaps Critter and Aenor understood the dangers, the endless possibilities that awaited them - fourteen and a twelve were not oblivious ages, any longer. Maybe Marcus, too. They were solemn and silent, huddled together as the likelihood of them never seeing each other again became even more real. They all stood in silence, until one remaining footman gave the Queen a nod, and tears threatened to run down her face as she prepared to bid farewell to her firstborn. 

"I love you." She forced out, her hand cupping Critters chin and directing his eyes to meet her own. "Don't you ever doubt it." He might never hear those words pass her lips again, and that made her want to weep more than ever - but, she was a mother, and as a mother she would set an example for her children; even if she did not have courage within, she would be brave to the eyes of the world.

"I won't." He swore, and the sincerity in his eyes was all she needed to see. 

"Sometimes we must have courage, despite how difficult it is to do so under such circumstances." The Queen continued, blinking back the water rising in her deep brown pools. "And, you are still young - no matter what you might think now." Boys tended to believe they, at fourteen, were practically men, and Ella had seen such bravado turn into mortal folly within a moment. "It is unfair, all of it. But, especially for me to ask you to be brave, now. Promise me that you will be strong, for me." Not that she'd ever see him be strong, but she wold know in her heart he would try in all earnest if he promised her, and she smoothed out his hair for the third time as she spoke. He nodded shakily, and Ella held him as tight as she could and pressed a kiss to her forehead, as if he were a child anew. 

"Have courage and be kind." She heard him murmur as she directed her attention to her daughter, who was exerting all efforts to steel herself, to keep her head high and smile. 

Ella had once heard herself referred to as the crown jewel, the centre piece of the court, the treasure of the land and the heart of the kingdom. She did not think herself the fairest in the land, though many would and had declared it despite her increasing maturity, but her Aenor Rose looked as though she might very well match her in time. She was only twelve, too young for any to tell, but somehow Ella knew she would only grow in grace and beauty, just as she would in wit and charm. Her mother only wished she would be there to see it. 

"You are my daughter." Ella choked as she looked into her eyes, moving aside a stray lock of deep brown hair - it would be a dark blonde by adulthood, all agreed - from her face. "You are a princess, you are a sister, you are a leader and you are a beautiful, smart, wondrous girl with a heart that you don't wish to admit to." Aenor was trying her hardest not to throw her arms about her mother, to beg her not to leave them, but she knew it was for everyones safety that they go their different ways - they could meet up again, but no one knew how long, exactly. "But, before you are any of those things you will always be, to me, my daughter. I can only pray that, sometime, you will understand once and for all what that entails when you have one of your own-" if she survived long enough, that is. She was only twelve, and the world was an unkind place, though Ella fought her hardest to believe there was still goodness somewhere, too. "But, briefly, it means that I will love you, I will support you, I will wonder at you and I will cherish you until my very last breath, and that you mean more to me than life itself." Aenor did, indeed, throw her arms about her mother, and wept blindly into the crook of her neck as Ella focused on the ceiling above, vowing that her face would not be dampened.

"I love you, Mama." The princess sobbed, and Ella, again, kissed her forehead as a good bye. Critter gave his little sister his hand to hold as their mother found Marcus. 

He was still a boy, ten and a half and unknowledgeable of most of the cruelties the world had to offer. Ella pleaded internally, begged her Fairy Godmother, to spare him the harsher forms of revelation that could be in stock. He was her precious boy, the alternatively grumpy and giggly light who seemed to have a never ending list of mischievous activities to complete. That would have to be put on hold, but his mother had faith in his kinder qualities prevailing. He was loyal, and protective, and altruistic to the end, surely those sense would become keener, or rather more predominant, in such times? Again, Ella would not be there to observe her theory. 

"Did you know that the second full sentence you ever uttered." She began, almost laughing at the memory. "The second true sentence to ever pass your lips, was a joke?" Marcus nodded, having heard the story many times before. "I can't recall what it was, I am afraid, as it was not a terribly amusing one - you were hardly more than one and a half, you see..." He had chuckled to himself in the delighted, babyish chortle of a proud little toddler, having esteemed himself very highly in his first few attempts at doing so. "You have always had the ability to make me laugh, my darling, no matter how ridiculous and dire the situation was." Generally made so by his own doing, but that could go unsaid. "Never lose that. You can put a smile, a true heartfelt smile, on nearly everyones face, and that is important, the world needs laughter and light and love. You have made my life so much brighter, my little boy, and I dearly hope you can continue to do so for as many others as possible." He nodded, and she scooped him into her arms, and kissed his brow in a now ritualised way. 

Sensing it was the appropriate moment, Lily, Aenor and Critter all came to clutch onto their mother in company with Marcus, and all wept as they clung onto the kindest, most loving person who was so irreplaceable. No one really knew how long they all were there, no one wishing to break the spell of calm that surrounded the place. Not even a snivel broke the stillness, until Ella i parted one last piece of advice on her children. 

"There will come a time, my darlings, when you will find no comfort in words, believing them hollow, and you will find no solace in solitude, recognising the emptiness that surrounds you. When that time comes, you must all promise me something, yes?" They would not refuse her, even if they wished to. "Have faith in your dreams, and believe in the possibility of everything. Things seem so improbable until they come to pass." Like them meeting one another again, but they would, they had to. 

Prince Christopher Fredrick was then entrusted into the care of the Grand Duke, breaking into sobs at last when confronted with saying good bye to his father. There was so little a chance that he would see him again, slimmer than even him seeing his mother once more, and the finality hit home far too hard. With them, he would smuggled across the border into the dominion of his fathers aunts, Queen Marguerite, and her husband, King Alexey.

Princess Aenor Rose was to be concealed and shielded by the Captain of the Guards wife, Rosamund, and to travel with her family into Zaragoza (the least expected option, but Kit had been desperate and Chelina was adamant in her alliance with them, despite public appearances). From there, she would take the long route, passing through Corona to reach the northern kingdom beyond the moors and then to her great aunt and uncles small kingdom. 

Prince Marcus Richard continued to be lead away, beneath an old musty brown cloak, by none other than the elderly Farmer John (who was attached only to Ella, and so could not be traced directly to the royal social circle of close friends). The plan was similar, but for him to be guided down to the harbour, where a small ship awaited them (on orders to depart at sunrise), and to meet up with his siblings in the care of his relatives. 

Next, was for Ella and Kit to share their last few moments with each other, possibly their last together in that world. It was painful, and by then hot tears were streaming down both their cheeks - but hardly any were left to see, and none would begrudge them it. Noses pressed together, shared tears dampening their cheeks and hands intertwined, Kit gently murmured words Ella would never forget. 

"I hope to see you again, Miss." 

"And I you."

**Author's Note:**

> I swear, I was so close to becoming really sadistic about what happens next, like who dies and stuff, but I'll leave that to your imagination *grins evily* xxxxx kitellafics


End file.
